Knowledge Hurts
by Percyjacksonfan3
Summary: When Piper hears the knock on her door of the Argo II the night they leave a burning Camp Jupiter behind, the last thing she expected to see was Percy Jackson standing on the other side of it. But there he is. And he's got some questions. Specifically about Annabeth. One shot on Piper telling Percy how Annabeth was without him! References to deep emotions, but it's good! Enjoy!


**Disclaimer: I don't own anything no matter how much I wish I did! I think we all know R.R has the pleasure of claiming these characters and stories as his.**

When Piper heard the three tentative knocks on the door of her cabin on the Argo II that night the last person she expected to see on the other side of her door was Percy Jackson.

It was the day they had left the Roman Camp and Piper was unbraiding her hair dressed in her pj's ready for bed. The multiple care bears on her light pink pajama pants and the white tank top she was wearing was reflected back to her in the mirror and Piper couldn't help but notice the one worry line in her forehead.

Now Piper didn't claim to be a facial/skin expert but she was pretty sure worry lines weren't common in teenagers. And it wasn't like she would have cared about it for the sake of appearance (she may be a daughter of Aphrodite but that didn't mean looks were everything to her). Actually she wouldn't have cared at all if she wasn't so plagued with why the line was there in the first place.

Being a demigod was hard. Piper had learned that in the first week with all of those near death experiences of her first quest. She knew it wasn't easy and since this was the most important quest in the history of the world... well it was obvious Piper would be a little stressed right? Of course she would worry and have doubts and yes, maybe a couple of nights she couldn't fall asleep because her mind just wouldn't stop thinking of awful possibilities.

If Piper's brain could talk she was pretty sure it would be saying something along the lines of:

_'Wait, you want to sleep? Oh, that's cool, but know what sounds even better? Thinking up all the ways you and your friends could die or fail on this quest!'_

In conclusion, Piper's brain was a major jerk.

Tonight was one of those nights. After everything that had happened today- like, oh I don't know...blowing up the Roman camp?- Piper's mind just couldn't stop it's horrible train of thought.

The Romans would never help them now. In fact, after everything, Piper would be surprised if they didn't kill a Greek on sight next time they saw each other; and with the things she had been seeing in her dagger... Well, let her just say she wasn't too optimistic at the moment.

She finished unbraiding the last few strands of hair and hurriedly ran a brush through them, wanting to try to sleep even if it was practically an impossibility at this point. And just as she stood up and switched off her light she heard it.

_Knock, knock, knock._

Who was that? Jason maybe? After the mayhem of today most of the demigods had retired to their beds early, saying they were exhausted. In fact, after Piper had left, it had been only Percy and Annabeth left in the kitchen where the demigods had gathered tonight. But that had been almost an hour ago and now it was nearing 11:00 pm.

So who could be at her door right now?

Now the light from the window in the wall of her room let in enough light to make sure Piper wouldn't trip over something and die but she was still careful to put her hands out in front of her to make sure she didn't run into a wall or a sword or something. She wasn't exactly in the mood to get stabbed or at the very least a stubbed toe.

Finally she made her way to the door, after a couple of seconds. She hadn't heard anything since the knocks, so maybe whoever it had been had left? Or maybe it was a prank by Leo and Piper was about to get green paint dumped on her or something along those lines.

What she definitely didn't expect to see when she opened the door was Percy Jackson standing outside it in the hallway looking about as awkward as can be.

"Percy?" Piper asked in surprise without thinking.

She couldn't help it, okay? As far as she can remember (she did only meet the guy today) they've only spoken a couple of sentences to one another. Not that Piper didn't want to talk to him or anything. It's just he was always with Annabeth and after seeing the girl without him Piper figured it was better to give them a chance to catch up.

Judging by Percy's ever so slightly swollen lips - not that Piper was looking!- it looked like they had done just that.

And yes, maybe Piper had been nervous. She had heard so much about this guy and all these amazing things he had done. What was she supposed to say?

_'Yeah, so I heard all about you when I was at Camp Half-Blood when you were missing and I just wanted to let you know I think you sound really great. I'm glad your back so Annabeth can be happy again. What? Oh, that's stalkerish? Darn... forget I said anything.'_

No. Piper didn't think that would go down well.

Since boarding the Argo II Percy had been pretty distant from Piper, Leo and Jason. Piper found it strange how upset he got over Leo setting fire to New Rome. Sure, it was sad, but considering Percy was blasting the Romans with water and was only there a week... well to be honest she hadn't expected him to care all that much. It wasn't like it was his home or anything. Even Jason hadn't seemed that upset and he was the one who had lived there since he was about 2 years old.

But Piper didn't hold it against him. Besides, from what she had seen Percy had missed Annabeth just as much as (maybe even more) than she had missed him. It was okay for them to spend time together away from everyone else as often as they could.

The look on percy's face was almost... shy; but that didn't make sense. He was famous Percy Jackson, defeater of Titans and countless monsters, older than Piper and leader of both camps of demigods. Why would he be nervous?

His left hand lifted up to rub anxiously at the back of his neck. "Hey, Piper."

She was still in shock, barely being able to process that he was standing in the hall, in the middle of the night, in blue pj pants and a white wife beater.

Piper had encountered some strange things since learning she was a demigod but this definitely made top five.

"Umm..." What was she supposed to do? Invite him in for tea and cookies?

She almost choked at the image of her sitting with Percy eating cookies and drinking tea over a nighttime talk.

Well darn, she thought, Leo took all the cookies and she forgot to make tea.

"So... did you want something?" She asked curiously albeit confusedly. She didn't mean to sound rude but this was... unexpected.

He cleared his throat and looked left then right. "Can we talk? Maybe not while I'm standing in the hallway in my pajamas?"

"Oh." Piper said. "Yeah, sure." She glanced back into her dark cabin and a feeling of unease filled her.

Now she knew this was irrational but Piper had grown up with a movie star father. She knew what guys were like from movies and media and she had heard of one too many guy gets girl alone sort of crimes.

But as Piper looked back to Percy and met his eyes she saw no sign of anything except nervous anticipation. For what, she wasn't sure, but the feeling he gave off wasn't sinister. Besides, Piper rationalized, if Annabeth was dating him he must be amazing because she wouldn't settle for anything less and would be able to see through other people's crap.

"Maybe we could go for a walk above deck?" Percy suggested before Piper could say something, maybe picking up on her train of thought or maybe just sticking with a plan he had before he knocked on her door. "That way we won't wake the others."

"Yes," Piper said nodding, jumping on the suggestion. "Good idea," she said while moving to close her door.

"Umm... maybe you should put on a sweater." Percy suggested. "It's kinda cold."

Piper looked down at her tank top in surprise. A boy had never suggested to her to put on another article of clothing before. Piper hadn't had many enounters with guys in her life but jerks in her previous school had something suggested she take her top off rather than put it on.

She wasn't stupid. While she didn't find herself exceptionally beautiful, Piper knew she wasn't ugly. And she noticed guys looking at her. Even Leo, although they both wanted nothing but friendship between them, Piper had caught him checking her out once or twice. She was a girl, guys did that.

But Percy... even though she was in only a tank top the son of Poseidon had never looked anywhere except her face. Not her chest, or lips or legs... strictly face. And Piper would bet her dad's vacation house in the Bahamas that Percy, while maybe having glanced at her figure, had never ever checked her out.

She met his eyes and they were purely innocent.

Piper turned on her light and found a baby blue shawl to wrap herself in. Quietly she closed her door behind her and stood beside the Hero of Olympus.

"Okay," she said. "To the deck."

He nodded, looking ahead and for a second he didn't say anything and they walked in silence that was just on the verge of being uncomfortable. Finally though, he interrupted the silence.

With a laugh.

She looked at him confusedly as the climbed the stairs that led to fresh air. "What's so funny?"

He shook his head. "You're probably wondering why I wanted to talk to you and thinking this is all really strange."

She opened her mouth to lie, to deny it and claim that no, this happened to her all the time.

But she got the feeling he would see through that lie.

As Percy opened the door and held it open for her he smiled. "I wasn't even going to do this, you know. I mean since I woke up at the Wolf House I've been wondering but I wasn't actually going to ask... except today when Annabeth and I saw each other today for the first time... She got so emotional, which isn't really surprising because Annabeth-" Another laugh followed by another shake of the head. "Well she's emotional. The thing is she couldn't hide it from everyone which makes me wonder..."

"Wonder what?" Piper asked as they sat on the railing of the deck.

Piper looked up and spotted a darker blob in the crow's nest of the ship and judging by the bulk Piper guessed it was Frank on watch and he had fallen asleep.

She shot Percy a side way look. Had he known Frank was asleep? Or was that just luck and coincidence?

She almost laughed at herself. When you're a demigod you definitely aren't lucky and there are no such things as coincidences.

"Usually Annabeth can hide how she feels," Percy went on as if he hadn't heard her. "Sometimes even from me. But today... well everyone almost saw her break down and what I want to know..." He took a deep breath and turned from leaning against the rail to look at Piper full on. "What was Annabeth like when I was missing?" He asked her, almost hesitantly.

Her mind went blank and she almost lost her grip on the railing and fell backwards into air at his words. If anything else had surprised her tonight this had completely floored her.

She looked up and met his eyes. They were filled with pleading, sadness, worry and something else... something Piper couldn't identify.

"Why are you asking me?" She asked him.

"You were the one Annabeth grew closest too while I was gone," Percy said without hesitation. Obviously Annabeth had shared some stories. "Leo blew up New Rome and I- well I don't really think I can talk to him right now. And Jason... well I figured Annabeth would be more likely to open up to another girl. She has... a thing about untrusting boys."

That just raised more questions and Piper opened her mouth to ask them but then thought better of it. Percy wouldn't give any of Annabeth's secrets away, Piper suspected, there was no point in trying.

"Percy..." she said haltingly. "Are you sure you want to know?"

Annabeth when Percy was away... was it too dramatic to say that Piper had noticed a change in Annabeth from the very second she first caught sight of her boyfriend? It seems every second she spent after seeing him she grew stronger and let the person Piper knew she was actually show.

Percy's response floored her. "I don't want to know, gods of course I don't." He took in a deep breath and closed his eyes for a second. "But I need to know."

When he opened his eyes there was an emotion there that hadn't been present a second ago and Piper knew Percy was bracing himself for whatever he was about to hear.

"I heard so much about you," Piper said instead, seeing Percy's surprise at her words. "You're like a celebrity at that camp, it's star. My dad's an actor so I know what fame and popularity are but you... it's different. At Camp the people... they knew you. They hadn't just read about you in a magazine or saw you play a certain part. They knew who you were and Percy," Piper paused and met his eyes. "Everybody missed you. Some worse than others. But Annabeth- well she was the worst."

"Jason, Leo and I only showed up 3 days after they found out you were missing so I don't know what her reaction was or how long it took her to deal with it but I heard stories. Thalia, Jason's sister, she said that when Annabeth Iris-messaged her she was frantic and panicking. Not even Thalia, who had known the girl longer than anybody at Camp, could calm her down. The twins from the Hermes cabin, the counselors... what were their names?"

Percy looked like he'd been sucker punched. "Travis and Connor. Gods, those guys... I haven't seen them in forever."

Piper nodded, watching him carefully. "Yeah, them. Well they told so many stories but they always kept coming back to how much they missed having you around to get mad at them for pranking the new kids."

The corners of Percy's mouth twitched. "Is Travis still pretending he hates Katie?"

"Katie Gardiner?" Katie was someone Piper had grown close to in the months she had been at Camp and she would be lying if she hadn't noticed the way Travis and Katie acted around each other. "He still pranks her all the time if that's what you're asking."

Percy nodded as if that answered his question but Piper didn't see how. "Okay. And what about Clarisse? Still shoving new campers heads in toilets?"

"Clarisse? Not as far as I know... Jason said he overheard her talking to Lou Ellen and she said 'while that Prissy is still gone I'm not going near those bathrooms'."

Percy's eyes widened slightly before a huge grin spread across his face. "I knew it!" He exclaimed.

Piper frowned in confusion. "Knew what?"

He shook his head but muttered to himself. Piper only caught the words, "zoo... Ares chariot... vision... knew we were friends..."

When he met her eyes he grinned again. "Don't worry about it, Piper."

She nodded and watched him carefully, unsure how her next words would be reacted to. "And there was this satyr... his name was Grover."

At this Percy froze and Piper swore she saw him inhale. "Grover." He said in a dead voice.

She nodded. "He was pretty bad.. nervous, fidgety. He could hardly look at Jason and Leo scared him. I talked to him once in a while but not much. One day he when he and Annabeth were trying to use this thing called an Empathy Link- don't ask me what it is, cause I don't know- he got really excited and Annabeth wouldn't stop talking for hours. Then when he was asked to play a Hilary Duff song on his reed pipes he looked like he was about to cry."

It seemed like Percy was shrinking in on himself, becoming smaller. "G-mean," he said sadly. "Holy Hera, I miss Grover."

Piper wasn't sure what to say to that but Percy seemed to remember she was there and noticed she had stopped talking. "But what about Annabeth?"

Piper closed her eyes. It was almost painful to remember, Piper had tried to block the memories out. "Annabeth... Percy it was bad. Really bad. When I first met her she was frantic, determined to find you. When she was touring me around she almost started crying. Did you know he kept count of how long you were gone right down to the second? It was insane and the Athena cabin was working overtime trying to match co-ordinates and find where Camp Jupiter was because Jason couldn't remember. The longer you were gone the worse it was. She forgot to shower regularly. She skipped some meals and she lost too much sleep. I think the only person who worked harder on the Argo II than her was Leo and that was only because he was in charge of the entire thing. As time went on she could hardly stand to hear your name and some nights.. well the rest of the counselors all knew she did it but we didn't tell Chiron. Some nights she went to the beach and stayed there for hours and others... well we're pretty sure she went to the Poseidon Cabin." Piper paused and took a deep breath. "We never saw her cry though. Not once did anybody see her actually break down in tears. She was strong Percy, stronger than I believed she could be. But the pain she was feeling... I think the reason it was so bad was because we all knew the pain we saw was only the smallest fraction of what she was actually feeling."

When she looked back to him from the stars in the sky she saw his muscles were clenched, he was staring resolutely at a certain point on deck. And in his eyes... the emotion Piper hadn't been able to name before was clear to her now.

Guilt. Guilt and sorrow.

And there was pain there too, she saw it.

"Percy..." She trailed off, unsure what she could possibly say to make the boy in front of her feel better. Because right now that's what Percy seemed like to her. Just a boy, trying to deal with one of the most emotional things he would ever have to experience.

"I knew it was bad." He saved her from her silence. "I could feel it, somehow, and I just knew. But I never thought- I would never have imagined... I didn't know. I thought it was only me who would feel like that. That maybe- maybe she would handle it better than me." He shook his head. "I can't believe I even worried for a second that she would have moved on from me." He laughed but it was a humorless laugh. "Maybe it would have been better if she did."

He seemed to remember Piper was there finally and turned to her, forcing an apologetic smile. "Sorry, Piper, I didn't mean that. I'm sure I've kept you up long enough, and who knows when Frank will wake up. We should try to get some sleep."

It was abrupt but Piper could tell from the look in Percy's eyes that he now needed to be alone. It wasn't a question or a request, he needed his space to deal with what he had just learned. What Piper had just burdened him with.

"Okay, sure Percy." Piper said, and without waiting for him to say anything she made her way to the door leading below decks. But when she got there she turned back.

Percy was hunched over the railing, head in his hands. She couldn't tell if he was crying but Piper could see the deep breaths he was taking, trying to stabilize himself. Trying to regain control.

"Hey, Percy?" She called out. When he turned it was too dark to see whether there were tears on his face but Piper didn't need to see it. Even if he wasn't crying she could tell this knowledge had hurt him.

"Annabeth really loves you. And if you ever do anything to betray that love I'm going to gang up with Thalia to kill you." She smiled sweetly although she couldn't tell if he saw it or not. "Just to let you know."

Something like a laugh came from his mouth and Piper could tell he was smiling. "Don't worry Pipes," he said and Piper hardly registered that he called her by a nickname. "If I ever do something as stupid as that I'll give you my full permission."

She nodded. "Just so we're clear," she said, before making her way down the stairs.

And as she lay in bed a few minutes later she couldn't help but _let_ her mind keep her up this time.

An hour ago she would never have been able to threatan Percy Jackson. Even with Thalia, daughter of Zeus, on her side Piper wasn't sure if they would win. An hour ago Percy would never have called her by a nickname and Piper would never have felt as comfortable with him as she did now.

Because after tonight and everything they had shared, what did he really have left to hide?

oooOOOooo

**I had a lot of fun writing this story and I hope you guys had a lot of fun reading it! The story idea came out of no where... but I went with it anyways!**

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**Love you all!**

**Percyjacksonfan3**


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